Last month Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group struck a licensing deal with an AI music streaming startup called Klay, meaning tens of thousands of songs can now legally be used to train the company’s generative AI model. WMG has said that deals like this will allow for “new revenue streams for artists and songwriters, while ensuring their work remains protected,” but these so-called protections are arriving too late for certain artists. One such artist is Jorja Smith.
Smith’s label, the UK-based indie FAMM, is asking for a share of royalties from “I Run,” an AI-generated dance-pop song credited to the pseudo-artist HAVEN., which went viral back in October. FAMM successfully issued a takedown notice to get “I Run” removed from streaming services, alleging that the uncredited female vocals are an AI clone of Smith’s voice. “I Run” has since been re-recorded and uploaded to streaming with new vocals by a singer named Kaitlin Aragon, but FAMM insists that AI models trained on Smith’s vocals were still used in the new track.
In a lengthy statement shared today, FAMM say that when snippets of “I Ran” first began circulating online, listeners thought it was an unreleased Jorja Smith song. The label further claims that HAVEN.’s team never publicly cleared the air on whether or not Smith was actually involved, instead “allowing the storm to brew” and leaning on public speculation to help push the track. When “I Run” went viral, FAMM allege that HAVEN.’s team reached out to invite Smith on a remix in order to “legitimize” the song. “At no point did they mention to us that AI had been used to manipulate the existing vocals but we already had a suspicion that this was the case,” FAMM write.
Although the vocals on “I Run” are uncredited, Harrison Walker — the guy behind the whole HAVEN. project — maintains that the vocals are his, processed through Suno’s genAI. FAMM are seeking compensation not just on behalf of Smith, but on behalf Smith’s co-writers on the songs used to train HAVEN.’s AI models. See FAMM’s full statement below.
Although “I Run” has reportedly racked up enough numbers to get on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s yet to appear on the chart. Billboard has yet to issue any formal statement on whether or not they’ll be excluding AI music from their charts.
